What is the best Power Outlet, and why?
-
A useful source:
https://worldofsockets.comAs someone who lived in the UK, the British one is far too chunky, especially in an age where most devices don’t use the mandatory earth pin (which is mechanically necessary to open the shutters in the socket). The one place it has an advantage over Europlug is in aeroplane seat sockets and such, where it stays in more firmly.
Having said that, the Swiss and Brazilian ones manage to get earthed connections into a slender footprint (the Swiss is compatible with unearthed Europlug, not sure about the Brazilian though it may be smaller). Apparently the Brazilian socket was proposed as an international standard by the IEC, though only Brazil adopted it.
-
does type A just have no ground?
In the USA, there's a ground in that the neutral wire is connected to ground. Devices that take advantage of this have a slightly broader neutral pin that won't fit into the hot pin.
-
For safety, the BS1363 (UK, type G) is by far the best.
-
It's fused. (Seriously why the hell aren't all plugs fused!)
-
Live and neutral can't be reversed.
-
Holes are gated (so no kids sticking spoons in).
-
High capacity, 240V at 13A gives 3kW of power.
It's only real downside is its size.
Fusing plugs is completely unnecessary. The only reason this is done in the UK is because of old janky circuits only used in the UK.
-
-
I see the left side of just slightly bigger than the right, so I expect one of those sides to be the ground
In North America, neutral is connected to ground. It's the larger pin on a polarized plug. Some devices don't use it; these usually don't have a conductive outer surface.
-
A useful source:
https://worldofsockets.comType J is superior in every aspect.
- compact, you can fit 3 plugs into an outlet while Type F only fits one for example.
- robust.
- cannot reverse polarity.
- no fuse required as the law requires proper fuses in every electric installation with law enforced periodical checks.
- round pins that cannot puncture your skin if you step on them. It's hard to face the pins upwards anyway.
--------- -
It's bi-directional
That's bad.
Every device produced in the past few decades doesn't care which wire is live.
-
The actual electrical device can be designed such that it depends on exactly which direction is live and which is neutral.
Imagine a circuit loop that, as you follow along the circuit, has an AC power source, then a switch, and then the electrical appliance, leading back to the AC source it started from.
If you design the circuit so that you know for sure that the live wire goes to the switch first before the actual load, then your design ensures that if there is a fault or a short somewhere in the appliance, it won't let the live power leak anywhere (because the whole device is only connected to the neutral line, not the hot live voltage that alternates between positive and negative voltage). It's safer, and is less likely to damage the internals of a device. Especially if someone is going to reach inside and forgets to unplug it or cut power at the circuit breaker.
wrote last edited by [email protected]it's a bad practice to design appliance in such a way to assume that neutral will have low voltage, because in case of neutral failure in three-phase circuit you can get full voltage there, and there can be a couple of volts difference (sometimes more) between neutral and ground even in normal circumstances
it's better to cut off both live and neutral at the same time anyway, especially if there's no standard which is which. also, as device designer you don't know if it'll be used on a circuit that has neutral and phase where you think it'll go or not. (ie british appliance used on unpolarized circuit, like type F. adapters exist)
-
As someone who lived in the UK, the British one is far too chunky, especially in an age where most devices don’t use the mandatory earth pin (which is mechanically necessary to open the shutters in the socket). The one place it has an advantage over Europlug is in aeroplane seat sockets and such, where it stays in more firmly.
Having said that, the Swiss and Brazilian ones manage to get earthed connections into a slender footprint (the Swiss is compatible with unearthed Europlug, not sure about the Brazilian though it may be smaller). Apparently the Brazilian socket was proposed as an international standard by the IEC, though only Brazil adopted it.
South Africa is also slowly adopting Type-N.
Europe was supposed to, but abandoned the idea
-
For safety, the BS1363 (UK, type G) is by far the best.
-
It's fused. (Seriously why the hell aren't all plugs fused!)
-
Live and neutral can't be reversed.
-
Holes are gated (so no kids sticking spoons in).
-
High capacity, 240V at 13A gives 3kW of power.
It's only real downside is its size.
It's not inset meaning that an improperly plugged in plug becomes a hazard.
-
-
it's a bad practice to design appliance in such a way to assume that neutral will have low voltage, because in case of neutral failure in three-phase circuit you can get full voltage there, and there can be a couple of volts difference (sometimes more) between neutral and ground even in normal circumstances
it's better to cut off both live and neutral at the same time anyway, especially if there's no standard which is which. also, as device designer you don't know if it'll be used on a circuit that has neutral and phase where you think it'll go or not. (ie british appliance used on unpolarized circuit, like type F. adapters exist)
it's a bad practice to design appliance in such a way to assume that neutral will have low voltage, because in case of neutral failure in three-phase circuit you can get full voltage there,
Who's using three phase in a setting where these types of plugs are used? In the US, at least, three phase circuits use very different receptacles and plugs.
The fact of the matter is that the switch has to be placed somewhere. And it's safer to place the switch between the load and the live wire, rather than between the load and the neutral wire. Designing a system where the live and neutral can easily be known makes it easier to do the safer thing.
-
It's bi-directional
That's bad.
-
For safety, the BS1363 (UK, type G) is by far the best.
-
It's fused. (Seriously why the hell aren't all plugs fused!)
-
Live and neutral can't be reversed.
-
Holes are gated (so no kids sticking spoons in).
-
High capacity, 240V at 13A gives 3kW of power.
It's only real downside is its size.
G is held in place only by the pins, isn't it? It'd be safer if it was nestled like Type F
-
-
As someone who lived in the UK, the British one is far too chunky, especially in an age where most devices don’t use the mandatory earth pin (which is mechanically necessary to open the shutters in the socket). The one place it has an advantage over Europlug is in aeroplane seat sockets and such, where it stays in more firmly.
Having said that, the Swiss and Brazilian ones manage to get earthed connections into a slender footprint (the Swiss is compatible with unearthed Europlug, not sure about the Brazilian though it may be smaller). Apparently the Brazilian socket was proposed as an international standard by the IEC, though only Brazil adopted it.
Earth pin is a safety feature and a good one at that.
-
Some people say it does with certain devices but I've never had anything I've run into. The American outlets have been used as bi-directional in most instances. (With 2 prong). If they had a ground then you can only go in one way. But that said... Obviously a cord without a ground can still plug into an outlet that has the ground set up. If the device wants the current to go in a certain direction they use one with a slightly larger prong on one side, but if you pick up any phone charger in America, you can plug it into any outlet any direction.
If the device wants the current to go in a certain direction
That's not how AC works
they use one with a slightly larger prong on one side,
That's not Ground, it's Neutral. Neutral is sometimes bonded to Ground, but they are fundamentally different things
-
it's a bad practice to design appliance in such a way to assume that neutral will have low voltage, because in case of neutral failure in three-phase circuit you can get full voltage there,
Who's using three phase in a setting where these types of plugs are used? In the US, at least, three phase circuits use very different receptacles and plugs.
The fact of the matter is that the switch has to be placed somewhere. And it's safer to place the switch between the load and the live wire, rather than between the load and the neutral wire. Designing a system where the live and neutral can easily be known makes it easier to do the safer thing.
wrote last edited by [email protected]you don't have to have three phase circuit to be affected by floating neutral in three-phase substation upstream. in some places in us there are 208v interphase three-phase circuits, which give 120v phase to neutral, which is distributed as a pair of wires as single-phase circuit. this is also normal way to deliver single-phase power in europe, as it's most efficient use of conductor. (from 400v three-phase circuits) in case more power is needed than single-phase circuit can deliver, three-phase circuit is installed
if there's switch on device, it's 2p1t meaning both phase and neutral are switched. if it's permanent, non-pluggable circuit, like lightning, it's okay if only phase is switched (neutral is connected permanently)
-
Can you plug C into F?
Yeah. You cant plug f into c because f is thicker by a bit but c goes into f.
-
It's not inset meaning that an improperly plugged in plug becomes a hazard.
bases of pins are insulated, like in type C/E/F
-
It's not inset meaning that an improperly plugged in plug becomes a hazard.
Not true, the pins are sleeved so if it is improperly plugged in, you still can't touch live parts.
-
Type E/F carries 16A/230V, and nowadays there are shutters included which only allow two pins to be inserted at once, not one but not the other. There's no standard as of which pin should be L1 and neutral anyway, nor it should matter, and fuses in british plugs are to accommodate ring circuits, which were introduced as a result of copper shortages (ie decades of tech debt)
Type B also does this now with the shutters.
-
A useful source:
https://worldofsockets.comwrote last edited by [email protected]As far as I know you can push 240V device to any of those holes. Not saying it will work but ex. charger will charge, just slower.
